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my brothers, these things happen so, neither does the spring from the same opening pour forth the sweet and the bitter. Can a fig tree, my brothers, produce olives, or a vine figs?

TITLE 48. -Concerning remission of sins; in what ways we are able to obtain

forgiveness. Cast off filth, and you will not be afraid, and you will forget your trouble, as

a wave that has passed by, and you will not be dismayed; for your prayer is like the morning star. The ransom for a man's soul is his own wealth. By alms and faith sins are cleansed. If there is one who does justice, and seeks faith, I will have mercy on him, says the Lord. You have made your sons hopeful, because you give repentance for sins. Water will quench a flaming fire, and almsgiving atones for sins. Forgive your neighbor's offense, and then when you pray your sins will be forgiven. 95.1257 He who honors his father will atone for sins. The good pleasure of the Lord is to turn away from iniquity, and it is an atonement to turn away from sin. If you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. He who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

TITLE 49. -Concerning despair; that we must not despair of our own

salvation. You shall be confident, because there is hope for you. Those who are despaired of by men,

will be filled with gladness. No one, for fear of deprivations, casts away good things. For thus none of human affairs would have been established, if for each of our undertakings we calculated the failures. For barrenness lies beside agriculture, shipwrecks beside commerce, widowhoods beside marriages, childlessness beside child-rearing. But nevertheless we undertake the works, relying on better hopes, and entrusting the outcome of what is hoped for to God who orders our affairs. Neither will he who is not negligent ever fall into despair, nor will he who is nourished by good hopes, and does not despair of himself, be able to fall into negligence.

TITLE 50. -Concerning anathema and excommunication.

You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and be an accursed thing like it. You shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is an accursed thing. - Nothing from the accursed thing shall be found in your hand. The Lord said to Joshua: The children of Israel cannot stand before their enemies, because they have become an accursed thing. I will no longer be with you, unless you remove the accursed thing from among you. Arise, sanctify the people for tomorrow; and whoever is shown by the Lord, shall be burned with fire, and all that is his, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and has committed a lawless act in Israel. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and said to Achan: Tell me, what have you done. And Achan said: I saw among the spoil a beautiful embroidered mantle, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels, and I took them; and behold they are hidden in the earth. And they stoned him and all that belonged to him.

TITLE 51. -Concerning things that do not mix, and things that have no fellowship with one another.

What is the chaff to the wheat? What fellowship has a wolf with a lamb? So a sinner 95.1260 with a godly man. What fellowship has an earthen pot with a kettle? This one will strike, this one will be shattered. You cannot partake of the Lord's table and the table of demons. What partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? or what portion has a believer with an unbeliever? what then

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ἀδελφοί μου, ταῦτα οὕτως γίνεσθαι, μήτε ἡ πηγὴ ἐκ τῆς αὐτῆς ὀπῆς τὸ γλυκὺ, καὶ τὸ πικρὸν βρύει. Μὴ δύναται, ἀδελφοί μου, συκῆ ἐλαίας ποιῆσαι, ἢ ἄμπελος σῦκα;

ΤΙΤΛ. ΜΗʹ. -Περὶ ἀφέσεως ἁμαρτιῶν· κατὰ ποίους τρόπους δυνάμεθα τυχεῖν

συγχωρήσεως. Ἔκδυσαι ῥύπον, καὶ οὐ μὴ φοβηθῇς, καὶ τὸν κόπον σου ἐπίλυσαι, ὥσπερ

κῦμα παρελθὸν, καὶ οὐ πτοηθήσῃ· ὅτι εὐχή σου ὥσπερ ἑωσφόρος. Λύτρον ψυχῆς ἀνδρὸς, ὁ ἴδιος πλοῦτος. Ἐλεημοσύναις καὶ πίστεσιν ἀποκαθαίρονται ἁμαρτίαι. Εἰ ἔστι ποιῶν κρῖμα, καὶ ζητῶν πίστιν, ἔλεος γενήσομαι αὐτῷ, λέγει Κύριος. Εὐέλπιδας ἐποίησας τοὺς υἱούς σου, ὅτι δίδως ἐπὶ ἁμαρτήμασι μετάνοιαν. Πῦρ φλογιζόμενον ἀποσβέσει ὕδωρ, καὶ ἐλεημοσύνη ἐξιλάσκεται ἁμαρτίας. Ἄφες ἀδίκημα τῷ πλησίον σου, καὶ τότε δεηθέντος σου αἱ ἁμαρτίαι σου λυθήσονται. 95.1257 Ὁ τιμῶν πατέρα, ἐξιλάσεται ἁμαρτίας. Εὐδοκία Κυρίου, ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ ἀδικίας, καὶ ἐξιλασμὸς ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ ἁμαρτίας. Ἐὰν ἀφῆτε τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὰ παραπτώματα αὐτῶν, ἀφήσει καὶ ὑμῖν ὁ Πατὴρ ὑμῶν ὁ οὐράνιος. Ὁ ἐπιστρέψας ἁμαρτωλὸν ἐκ πλάνης ὁδοῦ αὐτοῦ, σώσει ψυχὴν ἐκ θανάτου, καὶ καλύψει πλῆθος ἁμαρτιῶν.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΜΘʹ. -Περὶ ἀπογνώσεως· ὅτι οὐ δεῖ ἡμᾶς τῆς ἑαυτῶν ἀπογινώσκειν

σωτηρίας. Πεποιθὼς ἔσῃ, ὅτι σοι ἔστιν ἐλπίς. Οἱ ἀπηλπισμένοι τῶν ἀνθρώπων,

ἐμπλησθήσονται εὐφροσύνης. Οὐδεὶς φόβῳ τῶν στερήσεων τὰ ἀγαθὰ ἀπωθεῖται. Οὕτω γὰρ ἂν οὐδὲν τῶν ἀνθρωπίνων συνέστη, εἰ ἐφ' ἑκάστῳ τῶν σπουδαζομένων τὰς ἀποτυχίας ἐλογιζόμεθα. Παράκειται γὰρ τῇ γεωργίᾳ ἡ ἀφορία, ταῖς ἐμπορίαις δὲ τὰ ναυάγια, τοῖς γάμοις αἱ χηρεῖαι, ταῖς παιδοτροφίαις αἱ ἀποτεκνώσεις. Ἀλλ' ὅμως ἐγχειροῦμεν τοῖς ἔργοις, ταῖς χρηστοτέραις ἐλπίσιν ἐπερειδόμενοι, τὴν δὲ τῶν ἐλπισθέντων ἔκβασιν ἀνατιθέντες τῷ τὰ ἡμέτερα οἰκονομοῦντι Θεῷ. Οὔτε ὁ μὴ ῥᾳθυμῶν εἰς ἀπόγνωσιν ἂν ἐμπέσοι ποτὲ, οὔτε ὁ τρεφόμενος ἐλπίσι χρησταῖς, καὶ μὴ ἀπογινώσκων ἑαυτοῦ, εἰς ῥᾳθυμίαν δυνήσεται ἐμπεσεῖν.

ΤΙΤΛ. Νʹ. -Περὶ ἀναθέματος καὶ ἀφορισμοῦ.

Οὐκ εἰσοίσεις βδέλυγμα εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ ἔσῃ ἀνάθεμα ὥσπερ τοῦτο. Προσοχθίσματι προσοχθιεῖς, καὶ βδελύγματι βδελύξῃ, ὅτι ἀνάθεμά ἐστιν. - Οὐχ εὑρεθήσεται ἐν τῇ χειρί σου οὐδὲν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀναθέματος. Εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Ἰησοῦν· Οὐ δύνανται υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ ὑποστῆναι κατὰ πρόσωπον τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐγενήθησαν ἀνάθεμα. Οὐ προσθήσω ἔτι μεθ' ὑμῶν εἶναι, ἐὰν μὴ ἐξάρητε τὸ ἀνάθεμα ἐξ ὑμῶν αὐτῶν. Ἀναστὰς ἁγίασον τὸν λαὸν εἰς τὴν αὔριον· καὶ ὃς ἀναδειχθῇ παρὰ Κυρίου, κατακαυθήσεται ἐν πυρὶ, καὶ πάντα ὅσα ἐστὶν αὐτῷ, ὅτι παρέβη τὴν διαθήκην Κυρίου, καὶ ἐποίησεν ἀνόμημα ἐν Ἰσραήλ. Καὶ ὤρθρισεν Ἰησοῦς τὸ πρωῒ, καὶ εἶπε τῷ Ἀχάρ· Ἀνάγγειλόν μοι, τί ἐποίησας. Καὶ εἶπεν Ἀχάρ· Εἶδον ἐν τῇ προνομῇ ψιλὴν ποικίλην καλὴν, καὶ διακόσια δίδραχμα ἀργυρίου, καὶ γλῶσσαν χρυσῆν πεντήκοντα διδράχμων, καὶ ἔλαβον· καὶ ἰδοὺ κεκρυμμένα εἰσὶν ἐν τῇ γῇ. Καὶ ἐλιθοβόλησαν αὐτὸν καὶ πάντας τοὺς αὐτοῦ.

ΤΙΤΛ. ΝΑʹ. -Περὶ ἀμίκτων, καὶ τῶν ἀκοινωνήτως ἐχόντων πρὸς ἄλληλα.

Τί τὸ ἄχυρον πρὸς τὸν σῖτον; Τί κοινωνήσει λύκος ἀμνῷ; οὕτως ἁμαρτωλὸς 95.1260 πρὸς εὐσεβῆ. Τί κοινωνήσει χύτρα πρὸς λέβητα; αὕτη προσκρούσει, αὕτη συντριβήσεται. Οὐ δύνασθε τραπέζης Κυρίου μετέχειν, καὶ τραπέζης δαιμονίων. Τίς μετοχὴ δικαιοσύνης καὶ ἀνομίας; ἢ τίς κοινωνία φωτὶ πρὸς σκότος; τίς δὲ συμφώνησις Χριστῷ πρὸς Βελίαρ; ἢ τίς μερὶς πιστῷ μετὰ ἀπίστου; τίς δὲ